The first room of the Supreme Court of Justice (SCJ) established that the gyms They are obliged to maintain the security and surveillance conditions of the lockers of their members as they constitute an accessory service to their commercial activity.
The court determined the criterion before the measure adopted by a gym to suspend the entrance of a member until everything related to an alleged theft of his personal belongings left inside his locker was known. The SCJ states that it constitutes a breach of contract, since the contract did not specify that in the event of such an event, the entity could reserve the right to suspend the member’s membership.
“The aforementioned court through judgment no. SCJ-PS-22-0333 dated January 31, 2022, rejected the appeal on the correct understanding that the Court of Appeal retained the civil liability of the appellant for breach of an accessory service to the original contract, “said the SCJ in a release.
According to the sentence, “as the appeal was presented, it was verified by the public notary of the number for the National District, that through act no. 08/2016, dated February 17, 2016, certified that the respondent tried to access the gym facilities with his code and was denied entry.
In addition, it highlights that: “the basis of the civil liability that is indicted has its origin in the breach of a contractual obligation assumed in a consensual manner that consists of the commitment assumed by the establishment when it offers a space in its facilities destined for the partners store their belongings during the time they perform physical activities in said sport Centerbeing motivated said offer as an accessory service to the original contract and that, logically, would lack effectiveness, if it did not imply the obligation to maintain security and surveillance conditions that do not put their belongings at risk.
The judgment also indicates that security is not a service offered free of charge and purely as a courtesy, but rather an accessory to the commercial activity of gymswhen they offer it, “like the current recurring one that has a locker area in its facilities for such purposes, expressly or implicitly forms part of the monthly fee paid by the partners.”
The decision was adopted by the judges Pilar Jiménez Ortiz, who presides over the room; and Justices Justiniano Montero Montero, Vanessa Acosta Peralta and Napoleón Estévez Lavandier.
